


Home Is Wherever I'm With You

by Lliz46



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, HP - Freeform, Harry Potter - Freeform, Home, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-28 12:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30139512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lliz46/pseuds/Lliz46
Summary: This is a fan fic to rewrite the absolute disaster that is Cursed Child. It is cannon compliant, except for what is at the end of the last book and what is in Cursed Child.
Relationships: Allison Johnson/James Potter, Bailey Harvey/Conner Francin, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasly, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Sirius Potter
Kudos: 1





	1. Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is from the POV of someone you do not know yet, so you will be introduced to them in this chapter. 
> 
> TW mention of brutality in the foster care system

July 14, 2014 

Beep beep beep. 

“Ughnnnnhh” appeared to be the noise emanating from her mouth as she reached over to turn off her alarm clock. 8:00 am. That was the time she always woke up, even on the weekends. She didn’t have to, most girls slept in until 9:30 on the weekends but, the line for breakfast always got long by then and Allison tried to avoid interacting with people as much as possible. 

It wasn’t that she wanted to be lonely, that was absurd, of course she wished she could fit in. Of course she didn’t want to avoid interactions with people at all costs however, she just seemed to be too different to be friends with anyone. 

It wasn’t just the fact that strange things always seemed to happen near her, which is why she didn’t have a roommate, but also that she just felt no one understood her. No one understood what she wanted in a friendship. 

She got up and walked slowly across the room dragging her feet and came to stand in front of her body length wooden mirror. She was wearing pink striped pajama pants with a matching shirt and her hair was just atrocious, major bedhead. She walked to her bathroom. 

She supposed she was lucky she didn’t have a roommate. It meant she got the whole room and bathroom, which was made for two people, to herself. She picked up her hair brush and started combing through, in her head, running through a list of what she was going to do today, or rather what she did every Sunday. Wake up at 8:00, get breakfast, go outside and eat it while reading, it was summer right now, in fact her birthday was in only four days, so she could go outside without freezing to death, read until lunch, eat lunch while reading, read, eat dinner while reading, read before bed, then go to sleep. What an exciting life I lead, she thought glumly. 

She made her way down the wooden staircase to the eating hall. If she was being honest with herself, she knew that she could have it much worse, as an orphan. The foster care system is absolutely awful, she’d heard some horror stories from some of the girls here who went through the foster system, and she knew that at some orphanages it felt like no one cared about you. The staff here at The Saint Pancras Female Orphanage were nice enough, the teachers, the cooks, the janitors, and the woman who ran the orphanage were all pretty kind to all of the girls here. Or, at least, Allison assumed so, seeing as she had never really met anyone outside of the orphanage because the school was in the orphanage and, where else would a 10 year old go? Plus, they got to go on field trips to fun places like the aquarium once a week so that was ok, she supposed. Although, to be honest, going with no friends wasn’t as fun, and she always got mad if she saw a family during one of their field trips and a kid was crying. 

What do you have to cry about? She wanted to scream at them, your life is perfect! You have a family. A family who loves you enough to take you somewhere fun, and your crying? 

She got down to the eating hall and was pleased to see there were only two people eating there, and no one in line. Today's menu was pancakes, weekend food was always better than weekday food. 

“Hey there hun!” the cook said, smiling kindly down at Allison. Allison hated when adults did that, it seemed like they were pitying her. 

“‘Lo.” Allison said shyly, looking down. “How many love?” the cook inquired. “Two please.” Allison responded. “There ya are.” the cook said handing Allison a plate with two pancakes on it. “Cheers.” Allison mumbled before walking straight out of the door. 

She found her favorite tree, it was huge she had no idea what type though, and pulled out New Moon from the Twilight series. It was like her fifth time rereading through the series and she had only discovered it earlier that summer. She thought she could relate to Bella a lot, with how she didn’t feel like she fit in with anyone from the normal and mortal world then, only fit in with vampires. She wished more than anything that something like that could happen to her, she could meet a vampire and suddenly understand why she was so different from everyone else, it was because she was born to be a vampire. 

. . . 

“Allison?” Allison looked up, hearing her voice, to see the woman who ran Saint Pancs, Ms. Livings, she was quite kind, and couldn’t be older than 40, walking towards her with a man in tow. Allison didn’t really like men. She had very few experiences with them herself, as she had lived her whole life at Saint Pancs, being dropped off probably the day she was born, and men frightened her a bit, if she was being honest. Sure, there were a couple male teachers at school, but she had never had one, and the only thing she really knew about men was from stories older girls had about their boyfriends, and all of their boyfriends seemed to be in dire need of lessons on how to be better because they all seemed to suck. 

“Yes?” Allison responded a little confused, who was this man? “Dear, this is Mr. Longbottom, he is here to talk to you about school, is that all right?” Ms. Livings asked. “Ok then.” Allison responded. “Lovely, I’ll leave you to it.” Ms. Livings walked back up towards the building and Allison was more than a little confused. Sure, she was going into secondary school next year but, she had never heard of the other girls getting a talk about school from a strange man before. She suddenly started to worry, was she in trouble? Allison thought herself a pretty competent student, most of her teachers liked her and she received good marks overall. What could this be about? 

“Hello Allison.” the man interrupted her thoughts. “Hello.” Allison responded. He came to sit in front of her, his hair falling into his eyes a bit from the wind. The man started talking, “I am Professor Longbottom, a teacher at a school called Hogwarts.” Allison personally thought that was quite an odd name for a school but, thought that was rude to say so, kept her mouth shut. The man continued, “This school isn’t like most schools. It is only for special people, and we would love to have you come.” Allison immediately became suspicious, sure, she was an alright student but, she was by no means extraordinary, and she began to worry that this school for “special” people was some sort of place for insane people. She was really worrying now, did this have to do with the strange things that happened to her sometimes? She tried so hard to keep those a secret! Allison realized he was waiting for her to speak, so she just stared him down. The man spoke again. “Have you ever noticed that you can do things you can’t explain, almost like it’s magic?” Allison practically choked. So this is what this is about! They wanted to put her in a place for insane people! The man quickly spoke again, “I didn’t mean to frighten you! I can do these things too. It’s because I am a wizard, and you’re a witch. We can do magic. And I would love it if you could come to Hogwarts with me so that you could learn to control it.” Allison looked at the man disbelieving. How thick did he think she was? The man smiled kindly, “Here, I can prove it.” Then, pulled out a long straight stick that became a lighter shade as it reached the tip, and pointed it at a leaf lying on the ground, “engrocio.” he said. The leaf began to grow in size. Allison could only watch, mouth agape, because she could do that too! 

“I can do that!” she exclaimed excitedly. She grabbed a leaf herself and tried to grow as she had accidentally done once to her shoe because it wouldn’t fit properly. Instead of growing though, it curled in on itself and abruptly disintegrated. Allison yelped and the man, Professor Longbottom, chuckled softly, “Like I said, you have to learn how to control it.” 

“I want to attend this school.” Allison said, “Where is it?” Professor Longbottom explained, “It is a boarding school that starts September first. You have to take a train to get there but, don’t worry, I’ll give all of the instructions to Ms. Livings, so you don’t have to worry about that. Though, I should warn you, you will have to run through a wall.” Allison thought that this sounded a bit absurd but was at this point willing to believe anything. 

“Right so, Hogwarts provides a little bit of money to students who don’t have any to buy their things. It’s not much so, you’ll have to get some things second hand but, don’t worry, I’ll help you buy everything. We have to purchase it at a wizard shopping street called Diagon Alley and it will probably take all day so, I reckon we should leave now.” Allison was surprised, “Really? I can come?” she was overjoyed to do something today other than read and eat. “Of course.” Professor Longbottom said. “Right, we should be going then.”


	2. Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison goes to Diagon Alley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No TWs for this chapter :)

July 14, 2014

What the hell. This was Allison’s only coherent thought as she entered what was Diagon Alley. After they had talked, Professor Longbottom had led her to is car parked in the visitor parking lot and explained to Allison that Ms. Livings already knew about magic and witches and wizards, having housed them before but, she never mentioned anything to Allison because she was advised it was best to let wizards explain it. That was why she had been so lenient with Allison’s “incidents” and why Allison never had a roommate. 

They got in the car and Allison felt highly uncomfortable climbing into the passenger seat and putting on a seatbelt. She had only been in a car two times previously. Both because they had been on a field trip but Allison got sick so she had to leave early so Ms. Livings drove her home in her car. Most of the time Allison rode on the bus to field trips and she never went anywhere else. 

After driving for about half an hour, the professor pulled up to what appeared to be a bar of all places. Allison noticed that everyone else seemed to walk past it without realizing it was there. 

They walked in and were greeted by a rather short wizard. “What can I get for ya?” he asked. Professor Longbottom responded, “Oh, nothing today. I’m just here to get her school things.” he indicated towards Allison. The bartender said nothing so they continued walking through when they were met by a brick wall, the Professor pulled out his stick, which Allison now knew to be a wand, and tapped it on the wall three times. The wall began transforming and opened up revealing a very crowded street filled with people and shops. 

Allison stared, mouth hanging open. Professor Longbottom laughed lightly at her, “Quite the experience, isn’t it?” Allison just nodded mutely. “On we go then.” The professor guided her out to the huge building that was labeled as Gringotts. Allison had no idea what muggle, the word meaning non magical people that she learned on the car ride, banks were like, but she was sure that they were not this grand. She was also quite sure that they didn’t have goblins running them. 

Allison’s overall opinion was that goblins were terrifying, the Professor explained who Allison was, attending Hogwarts, in need of the “Hogwarts Assistance”, etcetera, etcetera. She was handed the bag and they left Gringotts. 

“First thing on the list is a wand.” Professor Longbottom mused, “It’s also the most exciting, you're in for a treat.” he winked at her. 

They walked in a place labeled Olivanders and Allison openly gaped at the date under the sign. BC for crying out loud! She walked in to find thousands of rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other and a large desk then a door. 

“Hello.” the professor called. “Why hello there, here for a wand?” Allison was quite surprised to see a 20 something year old, rather attractive looking man appear from the door, she had been expecting someone old because of the sign that read BC, though, she supposed that if the owner was really born in BC then, they’d be dead. But, well she was here to get a magic wand for pete’s sake! Is it really so unbelievable that someone could live that long? 

“Too right we are.” Professor Longbottom replied. The man flicked his own wand and a tape measure swooped up abruptly and started measuring Allison’s arms. The tape measure whooshed back to the man and he examined whatever it found, Allison didn’t really understand what he was looking for. “Right...” he mumbled to himself, “let’s try this.” He took out a box and Allison was quite surprised this didn’t lead to the rest of the boxes falling down like a jenga set. He handed it to her. “Ok, now give it a flick.” Allison flicked it, nothing happened though. “Mm, perhaps not.” the man said, “Ok, try this one.” he gave her another one. She flicked it. This time a huge gust of wind blew a ton of papers everywhere and the man quickly took the wand back murmuring, “No, no, alright. Ooh, lets try this.” He presented her another one. 

Allison took it, this one felt good in her hands. She gave it a flick and, the wand illuminated at the tip and she felt really, really good about this one. “That seems to be the match!” the man exclaimed. Allison smiled to herself. She loved it, it was very pale, almost white, and wave looking indents all up the side. 

“10 inches, unicorn hair, and a touch of…” the man kept talking but, Allison wasn’t listening, she was too busy admiring her new wand. 

The rest of the day was not as exciting. After the wand, they went to get her books and Allison promised herself she would try and read as many as she could before school started so that she could be somewhat knowledgeable about the wizarding world. 

The professor was very kind, explaining things and helping Allison learn but Allison preferred to teach herself things and found herself annoyed that she was being babied. Allison was also horrified when someone recognized them and asked the Professor if he had a kid, and he had to explain that Allison “grew up with muggles and needed help getting her supplies.” She was grateful though that he didn’t mention she was an orphan, she didn’t want anyone to know. On the car ride here she had made a promise to herself to try to appear normal and act confident so that she might be able to make some friends. So absolutely no one would know that she was an orphan. 

It wasn’t until they were exiting the “robe shop” because apparently wizards wore robes instead of “muggle clothes”. When the professor explained this Allison suddenly became very self conscious of the blue tie dye tee shirt and denim shorts she was wearing, she had always been self conscious about fashion, and tried to look good, so it was very unnerving that what she was wearing were considered “muggle clothes.” They were walking out and a man who looked to be the professor's age with hair that shot up in every direction turned away from his conversation and called, “Hey Neville!” Neville, Longbottom, Hogwarts, Olivanders, Diagon? Were all wizard things named weird? “Hiya Harry!” the professor called back. To Allison’s utter horror, the man walked over with a red haired woman in tow. 

“Hey Neville.” she said. “Hey Ginny.” professor Longbottom responded, “where’s the kids?” The man, presumably Harry responded, “They’re with uncle Ron.” Allison was a little surprised that they hadn’t commented on her to be honest, was the professor often surrounded by random children? As if following this train of thought Harry glanced down at her and Allison was very surprised to see a scar shaped exactly like a lightning bolt on his forehead. 

“Is it going to be your first year coming up?” he asked politely. “Um, yeah.” Allison responded trying not to seem too shy. “It is our son's first year too, his name is James.” The woman, Ginny, added in. “Ok, cool.” Allison couldn’t think of a good response, so that would have to do. Ginny smiled kindly, “We’ll let you continue shopping, I was just trying to pull Harry away from the Quidditch shop.” she rolled her eyes. “Says you.” Harry snapped back playfully. Allison was abruptly furiously jealous of whoever this James person was, to have such wonderful parents. 

The rest of the day continued on and they got the rest of Allison’s needs. On the drive home Allison started her reading, the first one being, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, because it was about wizarding wars that had happened and that seemed like something important to understand wizarding culture. 

Midway through the drive Allison gasped out loud as a person named Harry Potter with a lightning bolt scar was mentioned in the book. The professor glanced at Allison, “All right?” Allison asked, “Was that Harry Potter from earlier?” Professor Longbottom laughed lightly, “Yes, that was him.” Allison was shocked, “He saved the whole wizarding world? There’s a prophecy about him for crying out loud!” The professor said, “Yes well continue reading because, believe it or not, it gets crazier.” And so she did. 

. . . 

Allison read and read for the rest of the summer and was very surprised to find that she had finished all of the books by the end of August. She promised herself that she would try but she thought that there was no way she would be able to finish them all. I mean, they were school books, why would they be interesting? But they were, so, so interesting. She thought that she was pretty knowledgeable by now about the wizarding world. Not as knowledgeable as James was sure to be, she thought his name with envy, but she would know enough. 

Something else excited her in the idea of attending Hogwarts, maybe she could find something out about her birth parents. She knew that you could be a muggle born but, maybe she wasn’t. What if one or both of her parents had attended Hogwarts and she could learn about them? She knew it would be hard to find, especially since she didn’t even know what her last name was. She had just been dropped off at the door of Saint Pancs with a small piece of paper that said, “Allison”. She didn’t even know when her birthday was, they just went with the date that she was dropped off, July 21. The idea that maybe she could find something out about her parents was very exciting indeed.


	3. Platform 9 3/4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ally goes to Hogwarts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No TWs for this chapter.

August 31, 2014

11:56 - 11:57 - 11:58 - 11:59… 

It was August 31, well now September 1 Allison noted, looking at the clock, and Allison could not sleep. She couldn’t tell if she was more nervous or more excited. Maybe an even split. She was thrilled to be going into a new chapter of her life, one where she could maybe try to make some friends, but she was also terrified as she had only been in the wizarding world once, and it was something else entirely. 

She rolled over trying not to look at the clock, she needed sleep. She stared at her ceiling, willing sleep to come. One, two, three four, five, six, seven.. Her eyelids became droopy and, eventually she drifted off. 

. . .

Beep, beep, beep. 

She quickly jumped up and turned off her alarm clock then, practically sprinted to her bathroom. Half an hour later, she was sitting on her bed, leg bouncing, while she tried to force herself to read. It was 9 and her and Ms. Livings would leave in 15 minutes to go to Kings Cross station. Her trunk was all packed and ready to go, it had been for a week because of how excited Allison was. 

She tried to read again… 

Knock knock. “Allison, you ready hun?” Ms. Livings called through her door. “Coming!” Allison practically shrieked jumping up to grab her trunk. She swung open the door and Ms. Livings smiled at her, “Let's get going.” The car ride seemed to take forever though, when Allison would look at the clock on the dashboard barely any time had actually passed. Allison was antsy the whole way, bouncing up and down in her seat. 

When they finally arrived Allison jumped out of the car to get her trunk and Ms. Livings walked her to the barrier. “Oh dear, I don’t think I can watch this, well go on then.” Allison was beginning to feel a bit nervous herself at the idea of walking through a brick wall. Swallowing her emotions, she quickly and briskly walked through squinting her eyes shut. 

She looked around herself and saw a family hugging and crying and saying goodbye, and she felt her cheeks redden and made to get on the train as soon as possible. On her way up the steps, she felt someone run up behind her calling, “Bye mum, Lily calm down! I’ll write to you, godrick.” 

Allison turned around to see a boy her age standing behind her smirking. She was about to turn her head back around and keep walking when he said, “Are you a first year?” Allison said, “Er, yeah.” The boy replied, “Nice to meet you, I’m James, James Potter.” So this was James Potter. “Nice to meet you too, I’m Allison, er, Johnson.” Obviously Johnson probably wasn’t her actual last name but, that’s what it legally was. “Reckon we should find a compartment?” James asked. “Sure.” 

Allison spotted an empty one and stepped in. She lifted her trunk onto the overhead compartment then, sat down with a huff. James did the same, for the first time she realized that James was already wearing robes. She was about to say something then, go change when she heard voices coming from outside, “Oh shut up Bailey, they won’t mind.” Before the compartment door slid open and Allison was faced with two kids who looked as though they could be siblings. They were both the same shade of blond and a little pale, the girl had basically Allison’s color eyes she noticed, while the boy had blue. Thankfully, they too were wearing ”muggle clothes” Allison noted with relief. Noticing their traits, she forced herself to look at James. He could definitely pass for tan but Allison was pretty sure that tint of his skin was from his dad, not the sun. Unlike his father, his hair was perfectly straight and not unruly in the slightest and it had a reddish tint to it which was definitely from his mom and his eyes were green.

The blond boy interrupted this thought process, “‘Lo, are you first years too?” “Yeah” Allison said while James responded, “Sure are!” The boy smiled, “I’m Conner Francin, and this” he said indicating to the blond girl, “is Bailey Harvey.” The girl, Bailey said, “Oh piss off Fransin, I can introduce myself.” Allison liked the girl already. 

They all got settled in and James asked, “So what houses do you guys want to be in.” “Houses?” Bailey and Conner both looked highly confused and Allison practically soared through the roof at the fact that she knew more than some people. James asked, “Oh, are you guys muggle born?” Allison knew he wasn’t really talking to her but she answered anyway saying “yeah” along with the other two but, she tacked on, “but I know what the houses are.” She realized too late that that sounded a bit braggy but, the other three didn’t seem to notice. She also knew that she didn’t really know that her parents were muggles but, they probably were plus, she was raised by muggles, it amounted to the same thing. 

James explained what the houses were, ravenclaw smart, hufflepuff loyal, gryffindor brave, slytherin evil. Allison had put her foot down at that one, “Slytherin is not evil!” “Slytherin produced voldemort!” James countered. Conner asked, “Who’s voldemort?” but, Allison and James ignored him. “Just because he’s evil doesn’t mean everyone else in that house is! Slytherin actually means that you are ambitious. Every house has good and bad traits.” Allison hated biases and when she read about the houses, she knew that there would be some against slytherin and hufflepuff and was ready to defend them to the death. 

“Whatever.” James said and Allison knew she won the argument, and smiled triumphantly before being shocked, when had she ever smiled because of a person? Without telling herself she had to smile to be polite that is. “Who is voldemort?” Conner asked again. “Erm.” James said looking down and Allison realized he didn’t want to sound braggy since his dad in 1,000 years will probably be some great myth bedtime story hero. Allison cut in hoping to show James it was ok to brag about this, “It’s really bloody cool actually because James’ dad is a hero, he had a prophecy written about him!” Conner and Bailey looked highly intrigued. “What!” Bailey gasped. “Er yeah.” James said, before launching into the epic tale of his father. 

Allison just sat back and observed watching James in what was clearly his element. She could never remember feeling like this before, or acting like this. She was just so happy and confident. Chatting with Bailey and Conner and James. James basically just answered any and all questions from the other three. And Allison felt extremely relieved when it was explained to her that the sorting was not a contest of any sort, you just had to put on a hat. Allison and James got into a few more playful bickering matches throughout the train ride and it was amazing. I could argue with you forever and ever and never get bored. She found herself thinking. 

When they arrived they got all of their trunks down and walked down to where someone was calling “First years! First years!” She recognized the person as Professor Longbottom and smiled to herself. When he said “Four to a boat.” she saw James do a little fist pump and was very pleased with herself for some reason. 

Right as they were about to get in, this girl with black hair that swooped down her back pretty low came up and said, “Are you James Potter? You can share our boat if you want.” She indicated to her own boat with another girl who had the same hair was waiting. “No thanks.” James replied, “I’m getting in with this lot.” He jerked a chin in Conner, Bailey, and Allison’s general direction. 

“Oh, ok.” the girl looked very surprised at this chain of events and Allison fought the urge to throw up a middle finger at her. This surprised her a bit because, it wasn’t like she was against cursing or anything but, most of the time, she didn’t. In fact she’d probably only said a curse word two other times before because she stubbed her toe really hard. Allison kind of racked this up though to the fact that she never had really talked to people her age before, it wasn’t like you could just curse in front of your teachers. 

In the boats Allison was able to fully see Hogwarts and, Oh my god it was something out of a movie. It was a huge castle and it was beautiful, she couldn’t believe that she would be living there for the next seven years! While she was pondering all of this, the boat glided effortlessly through the midnight black lake without anyone steering it at all. She looked at the other three and found that they all had her same expression, even James. Allison felt a rush of affection for her new friends. 

She really, really hoped that they would all be in the same house. She knew that it was impossible for boys and girls to share a dorm but she hoped that her and Bailey could share one, then Conner and James would be able to share one. 

The boats came to halt in front of the castle and Allison was so excited it was hard not to jump up and down like a toddler. As they all climbed out, Professor Longbottom was directing them all into the castle where they waited in the great hall to be sorted. 

The sorting was alphabetical by last name, meaning that Conner would go first, then Bailey would go, then Allison, then James. Whatever Bailey gets is what I will hope for, she told herself. 

Much to her surprise, and the surprise of many other first years, the hat on the stool began to sing;   
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,   
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The sorting began with “Abbot, Tyler” as Professor Longbottom called. When “Francin, Conner” was called Allison suddenly felt a trill of dread in her stomach. What if they were all separated? There were four houses after all! The hat was placed on his head for about 10 seconds before calling out, GRYFFINDOR! She saw James do a little fist pump out of the corner of her eye and the dread went away a little bit. She really hoped that they would all be in Gryffindor now. 

“Harvey, Bailey” was called and Allison was at this point silently chanting to herself, please be in gryffindor, please be in gryffindor, please be in gryffindor. The hat was placed on her head and it deliberated for about 40 seconds, all of which Allison was holding her breath for, before the hat called out GRYFFINDOR! 

Allison let out a sigh of relief and, seeing James had done the same, smirked at him. He smirked back. “Johnson, Allison” was called and Allison felt as though her stomach had dropped through the floor. She walked forward, trying her best to fake nonchalant-ness while chanting, please be in gryffindor, please be in gryffindor, please be in gryffindor. She sat down on the stool and when the hat was placed on her head, she squinted her eyes and started chanting harder, please be in gryffindor, please be in gryffindor, please be in gryffindor. 

Gryffindor eh? Allison was quite surprised to hear the hats voice in her head but she kept on chanting. The hat continued, you could go far in Gryffindor, no doubt about that. But in Hufflepuff you would also thrive, a kind hearted person like you who wants so desperately to be with her friends. Mm. The hat continued pondering and Allison began to panic, what if she was in hufflepuff and the rest of her friends were in gryffindor? The hat kept speaking, however, if you want so badly to be in Gryffindor then I suppose we’d better go with, GRYFFINDOR! 

Allison sighed with relief, smiling hugely, as she went to sit by Conner and Bailey who were smiling. “Hey guys.” she said. Bailey responded, “Yay! I can’t believe the three of us made it!” Conner said, “Hopefully four.” Allison agreed. 

A couple more people were called when finally “Potter, James.” She heard people start murmuring at this name, as his dad was famous, and Allison thought that she better understood what really had happened during the second wizarding war. James was smiling hugely at all of the attention and walked towards the stool, brimming with confidence. When he sat down, the hat had barely touched the rim of his hair before screeching, GRYFFINDOR! 

Allison let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and cheered along with everyone else. It didn’t escape her notice that James was getting by far the biggest applause. A couple of second year students moved aside so that James could sit there, but he conspicuously ignored them, coming to sit next to Allison, Conner, and Bailey. 

“How great is this?” James whispered, “We all made it!” Allison responded, “I know, it’s amazing.” Much to Allison’s dismay, the girl who offered James her boat, “Elizabeth Charles” was sorted into Gryffindor too. But, it was all ok when the feast began. Oh my god! The food looked heavenly and everyone else seemed to be scarfing it down, so Allison did the same. 

At the end of the feast a seventh year who was a prefect called “First years, follow me!” The four of them got up to follow. Which was when she noticed James waving wildly at a blue haired boy, or maybe man? He was definitely a seventh year anyway, who smirked at him and walked over. “Heya James.” he said, ruffling James’ hair. “Hi Teddy.” James said, clearly trying to flaunt the fact that he knew a seventh year. “Congrats on the sorting. You’d better get going so that you know your password. See you later, yeah?” Teddy started walking away. James called, “See you!” before smiling at the other three, “All right, let’s go.” Allison rolled her eyes. 

The password was “blibabber” of all things, whatever the hell that meant. And, much to her dismay she found that she and Bailey had to share a dorm with the girl who offered James a seat on the boat and the girl in the boat. They all were friendly enough to each other but, Allison could tell that they probably wouldn’t make much progress towards friendship. The two other girls were apparently cousins and kept to themselves, and as Bailey and Allison were already friends, they did the same.


	4. Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first couple of weeks at Hogwarts :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW mention of dead relatives.

September 2, 2014

That year September first fell on a Monday, so the next day they had classes. When they walked into herbology, which was their first class, she was pleased to see Professor Longbottom standing in the green house. “Hey James, hey Allison.” Allison blushed saying, “Hello.” James glanced down at Allison, “How do you know Neville?” So far, Allison had avoided difficult questions that could lead to the other three finding out she was an orphan so she quickly countered with, “How do you know him?” James said, “He’s my parents friend.” Thankfully, before anything else could be said, Professor Longbottom started talking, “Hello class and welcome to herbology. Today we will start off by...” the professor continued. 

Allison found that through most of her classes, she actually knew most of the answers to questions and didn't have to complete several reading assignments because she had already completed the material. 

Hogwarts was amazing and exciting and her first week there with her friends was magical. Big surprises came often, like the ceiling in the great hall, or how the food appeared, or the ginormous wall filled with portraits of wizards. “What on earth is this?” Bailey had gasped as they were walking past it one day on the way to potions, which Allison personally thought was an extremely dull and difficult class. James suddenly looked a bit shy. “These are all of the people who died during the Battle of Hogwarts.” he said quietly. “Oh,” Bailey said, “I’m so sorry to bring it up like that. Did you er, was there anyone from your family up there?” she asked politely. Allison really admired her ability to apologize when she made a mistake, and wanted to be able to mimic it one day. 

James said, “Yeah, this is my uncle.” he pointed to a red haired wizard who honestly looked quite similar to James. Cole said, “Woah man, he looks just like you!” James grinned, “Thanks!” Suddenly, the portrait spoke, Allison knew this could happen but, it was still a bit of a shock. “Who looks like me?” James smiled softly and said, “Me.” His uncle said, “Oh yes I do see it, well I better be off, I have tea time with the Fat Lady herself.” Before winking at them then, stomping off. James smiled after him before saying, “and this is Teddy’s father, Remus. He and my grandpa, my dad's dad, were friends.” James was indicating to a 40 year old looking man who had a long scratch across his face, going from the corner of his left eye and extending to his right cheek. The man appeared to be asleep. Allison said softly, “Are you ok to go to class James?” James looked bewildered by this chain of events, “What? Of course I am!” Allison couldn’t help but laugh a little bit, seeing that it was now ok to tease him, “Alright then you soppy git, we’d better get going then.” 

The rest of the week was great and Allison found that the homework really wasn’t too hard and the books in the library were utterly fascinating though, she still read Twilight, and was spending the time she was away from her friends in the library. 

This really just happened when James would go to watch the Quidditch practices and Bailey would go to ask a teacher something, she did this quite often, then Conner would busy himself with a game of exploding snap. 

Personally, Allison thought that Quidditch was a bit boring. She had never really been one for sports. She thought that flying was magnificent and, during her first flying lesson, really didn’t do poorly at all. In fact, all four friends did well, it was clear that James was amazing though. A stand out from everyone else and he could talk about Quidditch forever and ever, which Allison only listened to because she loved the sound of his voice, but couldn't really care less about what he was saying. 

James had also taken to calling Allison “Ally” and she loved it. The other two also called her that now and it was amazing. Allison had said, “We should all have nicknames.” One day during dinner and James suggested, C dog, B dog, and J dog. Bailey however was vehemently against this idea and demanded to never be called that. While all of this happened Conner had fallen off of the bench he was laughing so hard. 

The rest of the weeks passed much like the first had, and Allison had never been more happy in her entire life. This was really the place that she had always belonged. As October approached, the friends became aware that Conners birthday was coming up, October 11. They wanted to start planning something. 

“What do you want to do Conner?” Bailey had asked one evening as they were sitting in the common room. “Oh, I don’t know.” he responded, “as long as you acknowledge it, I’ll be happy.” James spoke, “Well if you don’t have any ideas, I just may have one.” he had a wicked glint in his eyes. Allison asked, “What’s your idea?” “Well,” James began, “I’ve always wanted to be a bit of a prankster and I have yet to pull off anything and also” his eyes were practically gleaming right now, “I have a bit of a surprise that I’m not telling you about.” 

The surprise ended up being an extremely rare invisibility cloak and pack of dung bombs. All of the friends were grinning at each other like psychopaths as James showed them. They were all in Conner and James’ dorm because the two other boys were somewhere else right now, so they had snuck in. “Oh James,” Ally said, “You really have done it again.” Bailey sniggered.   
They now had a plan for Conner’s birthday but, as Ally laid in bed that night she realized, she had no idea how she was going to get Conner a present. She was up until half past midnight trying to figure it out when, suddenly, an idea came to her. She realized that whenever James had dragged them down to watch Quidditch practice, Conner too usually had a book while Bailey usually just brought down homework. There was a muggle book that Ally thought he might like, Nightmares! It was about a boy who had trauma and basically how he overcame it but, it was presented in a more fun way. 

She sat up and quietly opened her night stand pulling out a piece of parchment, some ink, and a quill. 

Dear Ms. Livings,   
Hello, I hope that you are well. I am writing to you because I think that I left my book, Nightmares! in my room. If you could check, then send it to me using this owl, it would be very appreciated.   
Thank you so much,   
Allison Johnson


	5. Conner's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No TWs for this chapter :)

October 11, 2014

The owl had returned back a couple days prior with the book attached to its leg and a note that said: 

Dear Allison,   
Thanks so much for writing to me dear. Yes you did leave it here and I have attached it. I hope that you are having fun there. Let me know what you want to do for the winter holiday break when you figure it out.   
Best wishes,   
Juniper Livings 

Ally figured that for winter break she would just stay at school but, she didn’t need to worry about that for a while so she focused on wrapping the present instead. 

It was now October 11, Conners birthday, this year, it fell on a Saturday! So they didn’t have to go to lessons. James was acting like this was a miracle from god himself. “I mean can’t you guys see how perfectly this all worked out?” 

Ally smiled to herself, reliving the memory and looked at the clock, it was 8:00. She got out of bed and got ready for the day. She walked down to the common room where all of her friends were waiting for her. “Took you long enough.” Conner grumbled. Ally responded, “Oh, up yours Conner. It’s a Saturday, I can sleep in if I want to.” Conner snapped, “Yeah well, it’s my birthday so there.” then, stuck his tongue out. Ally did the same. Bailey rolled her eyes, “Can we go eat already?” 

When they got down for breakfast they all put food on their plates but no one touched anything. “What?” Conner asked, looking confused. The other three shared a look with each other before singing, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CONNERRRRRRR, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUU!” By the time they had finished singing the rest of the Gryffindors, except for Ally and Bailey’s roommates, and a couple of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and Professor Longbottom had all joined in as well. 

Conner’s entire face was red but he did have a smile. Ally sniggered. The usual rumble of the Great Hall resumed and Conner let out a sigh of relief, “Oh my god, that was uncalled for.” James laughed, ruffling Conner’s hair and said, “Oh, you love us really.” 

They went back up to the common room. “So,” James said, “what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” Ally said, “I thought that the plan was to pull the epic prank.” James replied, “Well, yeah, but that’s tonight.” Conner said, “I don’t know.” Bailey apparently had an idea, “What if we hand over our presents because, mine just may lead to an activity.” She winked. 

They all agreed and, an hour later found themselves laying down outside on the grass, covered in silly string laughing. James’ present was a large box of chocolate frogs, Ally handed over her own and Conner exclaimed, “Oh my god! I have this on hold back at my muggle library, thanks Ally!” Bailey's gift was a four pack of silly string. As soon as Conner opened this, the four exchanged a look before grabbing one and sprinting toward the portrait of the Fat Lady to get outside. 

Conner was convinced he won the race to get outside but, it couldn’t really be debated because, when he exclaimed, “I won!” James sprayed silly string right into his mouth. Thus began the epic battle of silly string. 

Brought back to the present, Ally looked up at the sky and snorted. “What?” James had asked. Ally responded, “That cloud looks like a cat.” Bailey said, “Oh yeah, it kind of does.” They all began chatting about what shapes the clouds were. Bailey said, “That one looks like my idiot brother.” Ally tried to smile but her mouth felt dry. Obviously, the other three had talked about their families before. Ally now knew that Conner had a younger brother named Chase, who was the same age as Bailey’s younger brother named Calvin, they were both eight. Bailey also had another younger brother named Shane who was three. Bailey and Conner had also grown up family friends which is how they knew each other before getting on the train. James had a younger brother named Sirius who was nine and a younger sister who was seven named Lily. Whenever family came up, Ally tried to act normal then, if asked a question about her own would quickly change the subject. 

Thankfully, they didn’t stay on this topic long. Conner said, “Look at that, it’s time for lunch.” Ally jumped up and the four of them walked up to the great hall before Ally stopped abruptly, “Shit!” Bailey asked, “What’s wrong?” Ally laughed before saying, “Well nothing except that we are all covered in silly string.” They all looked down at themselves before James said, “Oh yeah!” Ally laughed again, “Ok, let's go up to the showers then, eat.”   
. . . 

Ally and Bailey were sitting in Ally’s bed trying to keep each other awake. They had cast a silencing spell so that the other two couldn’t hear them. They had all agreed to meet in the common room at 12:30 for this most epic of pranks. It was 12:20 right now and they were both battling droopy eyelids. Bailey asked, “Reckon we should go down now, just to try and keep ourselves awake?” Ally agreed and they both crept silently out of the room. 

They entered the common room to find a sixth year couple curled up in a blanket, fast asleep in each others arms and Conner and James sitting in a large armchair across the room. Conner seemed to be in the same state that the girls were in but James looked antsy and like he couldn’t stop moving. 

“Hey guys.” James whispered, “Ready to go?” Bailey yawned, “Yep.” James put the cloak around the four of them and gave Conner the task of carrying the box of dung bombs because, “He’s the birthday boy! Only the birthday boy gets such an honor.” 

They tiptoed quietly across the common room and slipped out. “Right,” James said, “first we need to figure out how to get down these stairs.” Ally peeked at the stairs wearily, especially the trick step. Bailey said, “Ok well, one foot in front of the other and all that.” They slowly made their way down the steps to the ground level of Hogwarts. 

“We did it!” James whispered yelled when they made it down. There was one close call where Conner had stepped on the cloak on accident forcing them all to almost fall over but they all stayed upright and Conner got his “holding the dung bomb rights” revoked. Now, Ally held the box and was glancing at the others. 

“Next stop, the dungeons.” Ally said. The mission was to place dung bombs all along the potions classroom and schedule them to go off Monday during their class period. None of them liked potions and the old professor was rather boring. This plan was spectacular according to James, “It’s like a gift that keeps on giving.” 

They made their way to the potions classroom when, “Fuck!” James whispered screeched. “What?” Ally questioned. James’ eyes were wide as he stared straight ahead as Teddy Lupin came around whistling a tune. The four friends pressed themselves against the wall as he walked past but then, he abruptly stopped whistling and turned around. “James? I know you're there, I can smell you. Come out.” James sighed and pulled the cloak off of them, and Ally never got the chance to wonder how on earth Teddy smelled them? 

Ally looked at her friends, Bailey looked like she was about to pass out, Conner looked pretty spooked too, James just looked annoying. Ally herself was trying to hold back laughter. Teddy was staring at them all with a slightly superior expression. “All right lads, go upstairs and you won’t get in trouble but, only because it’s Conner’s birthday. And I’ll have to write to all of your parents.” Ally felt herself go cold, shit. She lightened up though when Teddy didn’t ask for her parents names, she figured there must be some kind of document with parents names on it. 

“Tedyyyyyyy” James whinged. “Jamessssssss” Teddy mimicked back. James huffed a sigh, “Fine.” before starting to walk back up clearly annoyed. Ally followed suit trying really hard to stifle her laughter. Bailey and Conner followed behind them, heads hung. 

“Oh lighten up guys.” Ally said when they were back in the common room, “we didn’t even get in any trouble.” Conner said, “Yeah but, my parents will be furious.” Bailey nodded her head along glumly, “Same.” James spoke up, “I’m sure they won’t disown you for getting in trouble once in first year. I’m just annoyed because Teddy betrayed me.” Ally was getting very uncomfortable with all of this talk of parents and decided to change the subject, “Speaking of Teddy, how on earth was he able to smell you?” Ally was wondering if there was some spell you could do to heighten your senses or something, that sounded pretty cool. “Oh yeah.” James said, “He has a really good sense of smell because his dad was a werewolf, so he got some of the traits.” 

“Really?” Conner gasped. James said, “I know, crazy right?” Ally said, “That is so bloody cool.” Bailey yawned and Ally herself stifled one. “Time for bed I think. Night all.” were James’ parting words. Ally and Bailey slowly walked up to their own room. Ally crawled into her bed exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately.


	6. Coming Clean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short guys, it was kind of at an unnatural point and, if I combined it with the next chapter it would be too long.

November 30, 2014

The rest of the weeks passed in much of the same blur that the first had. And Ally was finding it harder and harder to keep her home life a secret, why did the other three have to bring up their bloody families so much? The halloween feast was magnificent then, suddenly they were in November. James kept trying to persuade them to attempt to do the prank again and they had all agreed to only do pranks on birthdays, so this meant that James would have to wait until February, which was Bailey’s birthday. 

The winter holiday was rapidly approaching and Ally was thinking more and more that she ought to tell them that she was an orphan but she kept chickening out at the last second. To add to this, James was being absolutely insufferable, going on and on about how excited he was for Christmas with his own family while Ally would be here all alone at Hogwarts. She was also finding that her mood was decreasing at the thought of Christmas break and just wished that it never had to happen. 

. . . 

It was Wednesday and, Christmas break was only two weeks away and now everyone was becoming insufferable. No one would shut up about how excited they were to see their families. The four friends were walking to the common room from charms class to drop off their things before going to lunch. James was saying, “...yeah and my whole family comes over all of my aunts and uncles and everyone...” Ally was frankly trying to tune him out. Bailey abruptly said, “God James, we’ve heard about your family two billion times, let someone else have a chance to talk. What are you doing for Christmas Ally?” Ally felt her mouth go dry and had to clear her throat a few times before being able to answer, “I, um, there is actually something that I need to talk to you guys about.” she said this barely above a whisper. The other three looked concerned. Bailey asked, “What’s wrong?” 

They had just entered the common room and Ally went to sit on the couch and waited until her friends had followed suit. “Um, well, I, I’m sort of an, er, well, I grew up in a girls orphanage and, I don’t, um, have a family.” was what Ally was able to choke out. Conner looked as though someone had punched him in the gut, Bailey was obviously trying to be kind but looked utterly bewildered and James just looked downright mad. 

Ally cringed away from their reactions and tried lightening things up, “Look it’s fine, it’s been like that since...forever I s’pose and I think I’ll just stay here for Christmas anyway so um, don’t worry.” They all looked speechless. James finally said, “No.” Ally responded, “What d’ya mean no?” James said, “You're not staying here for Christmas, you're coming to my place.” Ally smiled, “Look James that’s very sweet but, I don’t even know your parents and, I’ll be fine here.” James said, “Nonsense, they’ll be fine with it, I’ll write to them right now to tell them you're coming.” And before Ally could protest he got up and walked towards his dorm. 

Ally sighed. Bailey said, “Thank you for telling us, really Ally I’m happy that we know now.” Conner added in, “Er, yeah.” Ally smiled softly, “Thanks guys.” If Ally was being honest with herself she was glad that she told them, their reactions were not as bad as she had feared although, she did seriously doubt the fact that James’ parents would just let some orphan kid they met once come to their house for Christmas, but she admired the effort all the same. 

. . . 

It was three days later and the four friends were eating breakfast when the Potter's owl swooped down and dropped off a letter for James. James opened it then did a fist pump, “Aha Ally, I told you, didn’t I?” Ally was very confused and James handed her the letter. 

James,  
Of course Allison can come! She and Lily will have to share a room though, and make sure to warn her how crowded it gets during Christmas at our house. Thanks for writing dear, we all miss you so much. Lily asked me to tell you to write to her more and tell you she misses you. Love you, see you soon.  
Mum 

“Oh my god! James!” Ally wrapped her hands around her friends neck hugging him, “Thank you so, so much!” James laughed, “Of course Ally, any time.” Bailey asked, “What’s going on?” James responded, “Ally’s all set to come to my house during Christmas.” Conner said, “Oh yay! That’s exciting. Now Bailey and I can be together and you two can be together so we won’t really all be separated.” Ally just smiled at them all, feeling as though her heart would burst with joy.


	7. Christmas at the Potter's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ally goes with James for Christmas!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so basically, I've been thinking about the plot of this a lot more and now I'm thinking I want to re-work some things and make some chapters longer so that it makes a little more since so, I'm going to take a mini break from this then, I will repost the chapters I already have on here with the new ones. I suggest going back and re-reading those once they are up because I will change the plot around a bit so, the rest of the story wouldn't make since based on the current plot. Sorry about this but, hopefully the break isn't too long, I'm going to try and figure it all out this weekend. 
> 
> Also, Happy birthday to James! (Harry's dad not the current James)

December 20, 2014

Ally was all packed and ready to go. She had barely been able to get everyone a present and had to give up the annual 35 pounds that the girls at Saint Pancs got to spend on something fun in the light of getting something for her friends. James had taught her how to place an order for things at Hogsmeade so that they’d be delivered for her, and Ally had asked Professor Longbottom how to convert muggle money into wizard money and the professor had just said, “Oh, I’ll do that for you dear and, the next day found Ally at breakfast and gave her a pouch filled with coins. In the end, she ordered a picture book with interactive stickers about Quidditch for James, she made sure to check that this wasn’t made for children and was pleased to see that the book was filled with long paragraphs that would have been impossible for a small child to read, she got a new book for Conner, The Land of Stories, and she got a pack of makeup brushes for Bailey who had been talking about how that summer she wanted to get into makeup, Ally wanted to as well, but seeing as she just used all of her spending money… 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Bailey coming in and saying, “The train will leave soon, we better head down.” They walked down together to find the boys waiting in the common room for them. “Lets go!” James said. 

They boarded the train and began chatting casually. Ally wasn’t going to lie, she was a little nervous to spend so much time with James’ family, what if she didn’t know how to act? But, his parents had been very kind to her back in Diagon Alley and his mum seemed very sweet in her letter to him. 

As James’ mum suggested in the letter, Ally was now warned how crowded it was during Christmas at the Potters. Apparently, Harry and Ginny were best friends and brothers with the co-owner of Weasley’s Wizards Wheezes, an infamous joke shop, and the Minister of Magic for crying out loud, who was Hermione Granger, their two kids, Rose and Hugo, apparently Rose and Sirius were best friends and so were Lily and Hugo. They were also inviting over someone named Luna and her fiancé Abbey, who was American, and Teddy Lupin and his grandparents, Ted and Andromeda, and the entirety of Ginny’s family which was, in order of age, Bill, Fluer, and their son, Louis (18), and two daughters, Dominique (16) and Victorie (14), Charlie who thankfully had no kids, Percy and his adopted daughter Lucy (6), George and Angelina and their son Fred (4). As well as Ginny’s parents Molly and Aurthor. Ally had actually made flash cards to remember it all. And apparently they also usually invited Professor Longbottom but he had just gotten married, so he was staying at his own place. 

Ally was pulled back into the present when James asked, “Anyone want a chocolate frog? I don’t think I can scarf it down.” Ally was famous for her adoration towards chocolate and was pleased to find that all of her friends also liked chocolate. Most of the girls at Saint Pancs didn’t and Ally personally thought they were all crazy. 

When they arrived at Platform 9 ¾ Ally made everyone get in a group hug before saying goodbye to them. Conner and Bailey went to find their own families and James started pulling Ally along towards where his was standing. “James!” A little girl with red hair sprung up and ran to James and James hugged her, he was really good with kids, then turned to the rest of his family, his mum and dad came up and hugged him. “James, we missed you so much.” his mother said. Ally was standing there rather awkwardly while all of this happened and James’ mother turned to face her and said, “Hello dear, we’re so happy that you’re staying with us.” Ally replied, “Oh yeah thank you so much for having me.” 

The boy who looked practically identical to Harry himself, except for the lightning scar, was now whinging, “Mummmm, James won’t geroff of me!” James now had the boy, Sirius, in a headlock and was fisting his hair. Ginny scolded, “James stop, this is no way to act when you have a guest.” Ally felt herself blush furiously at this, and James just smiled cheekily. 

Harry spoke, “All right, let’s get going.” They walked out to the parking lot and Ally was very skeptical about how this tiny car was going to house six people, and two trunks. When she opened the door though, she saw that the car had been enchanted on the inside to be huge and they all sat quite comfortably on the 40 minute long car ride to the Potter house.

When they arrived and got out, Ally wasn’t really sure what she had been expecting a wizarding house to be like but, supposed if she had really thought about it, it would be this. It appeared to just be a regular muggle 3 story house but, it was in a wizarding neighborhood. The inside though had no muggle things in it, no phone or telly or anything. There were also some utensils cleaning themselves. Ally noted all of these things smiling hugely. 

Ginny looked at her watch, “Ok, I better get back to work but, I will see you all later. Mwa!” She blew a kiss in her family's general direction before walking out the door. Harry called, “Love you!” right before the door shut. Harry spoke again, “Lils, why don’t you show Allison her room? And go get unpacked James.” James and Lily both said, “Ok.” James bounded up the stairs and Lily turned to Ally looking a little shy and said, “My room is on the left, I’ll show you.” Ally followed Lily into her room. It was pretty large but the decorations were rather quaint. Ally loved it. 

Ally spotted a little camp bed opposite to Lily’s normal bed and went to put her trunk by it when there was a knock at the door and James opened it. “Dad said that we can go sledding if you're ready to go.” Lily responded, “Ooh yay!” Then, they got dressed into their snow things. 

They walked to the neighborhood sledding hill, James and Ally trailing a little behind everyone else, “Sorry if my family is all a bit much.” James said lightly. Ally responded, “Oh, no they’ve been amazing.” James smiled at her. 

Ally had never been sledding before but, her thoughts on it were that it was spectacular. They were the only ones at the hill and very much so used this to their advantage. They raced each other all the way down, James’ dad having a very distinct advantage with being able to use magic. James tried showing off by standing on his sled on the way going down but Sirius, with the help of Ally crafting the weapon, launched a snowball right at his face, causing him to fall over, then Sirius and Ally had also fallen over from laughing so hard. James had used this situation to try and start a snowball fight but Ally just deflected it with his sled and Sirius had flipped off James which had led to Harry scolding, “Sirius! Where on earth did you learn that?” Lily was pretty quiet the whole time but she seemed to be enjoying herself. Ally thought that she was probably just a more reserved person than the rest of the Potters. 

When they got back to the house, they all dumped their wet clothes in the laundry room and were now sitting around the fireplace with butter beers and Ally was so content and happy, she thought that her heart may explode. 

Ginny didn’t get back until 9 that night, “Mum’s an auror.” James had whispered to her, Ally decided to figure out what that was later. 

She pondered the day's events as she lay awake in her bed, Lily breathing softly on the other side of the room. She thought that Harry and Ginny were probably the perfect parents. They were kind and loving, and amazing but, they would never let their kids turn out to be brats. Ally also found that she really enjoyed James’ younger brother, Sirius. He wasn’t as confident as James but, he had the same sense of humor, if a little more sarcastic. Ally thought that they would probably get along great.   
. . . 

The rest of Christmas break passed much like the first day had except people started stopping by more and more. At least one of the Granger-Weasley’s popped in everyday because apparently, they lived in the same neighborhood and the two families said hello to each other at least once a day. Ginny and Hermione were usually able to see each other at work anyway though. Ally had recently learned that auror was basically the wizard equivalent to a detective. 

Harry never seemed to work and, when Ally asked about this James had said, “Oh yeah well, after the war, he played Quidditch for a few years but, then quit when my little accident self came along.” Ally smirked at James and said, “Couldn’t have been more of an accident than me.” 

She made sure to send a letter to Conner and Bailey once a day, and missed them violently. Apparently, they were having fun and Ally assured them she was also having fun, and James and her would write them together. Well, she would write them with him whinging about something she wrote and making her change it.

Ally’s thoughts on Granger-Weasley’s was that Hermione was very intimidating, although that could just be because she was the Minister of Magic, Ron seemed very uncle-ish and Ally found it a little unfair that every adult in James’ life was perfect. Rose seemed to take on her mothers intimidating-ness and Ally found herself trying to steer clear of her even though she was only nine. It confused her a bit how Sirius and her were so close and when she brought this up to James he had laughed, “Oh I know, she’s terrifying, especially if she’s mad. I don’t know what draws Sirius to her to be honest.” Hugo though, was very sweet, he was only seven but he and Lily played together a lot and seemed to have a fun time. 

Christmas eve had been something else entirely, they all went over to George, Angalina, and Fred’s house this year. It was crowded, thankfully though, it was a huge house. The oldest kid there was Teddy, with his two grandparents. The other boy his age there was Louis and they seemed friendly enough but, they definitely weren’t besties or anything. Fluer was absolutely stunning to say the least, and so were all of her children but, especially the girls, Victorie and Dominique. Louis went to Hogwarts but the girls had gone to the wizarding school in France called Beauxbatons, Louis was talking to Charlie and it seemed that Louis was interested in becoming whatever it was that Charlie was, Ally couldn’t quite figure it out but, she was pretty sure that it had something to do with dragons. There was also Percy and his daughter Lucy. They both seemed a bit more sophisticated than everyone else there and Ally found that after a few bottles of fire whiskey, Hermione was much less intimidating. She was currently laughing loudly at something Harry had said. Fred was only four and he was so sweet. Ally was playing with him while James made a prat of himself in front of Teddy. 

“Do you go to Hogwarts?” Fred had asked with honest interest in his eyes. Ally responded, “Yes, and it’s amazing. You’ll love it.” Fred smiled widely at her and Ally smiled back. “Got a boyfriend Ally?” James walked up to them now. Ally rolled her eyes, “Ignore him Fred.” James pretended to be hurt, “How dare you, I’ve known Fred much longer than you!” Ally poked her tongue out at him. Fred laughed. 

The next people who arrived were Luna and Abby who were accompanied by Professor Longbottom and his wife. Ally turned to James, “I thought Professor Longbottom wasn’t coming this year?” James said, “We thought he wasn’t.” with a shrug. Ally didn’t really care that much. 

The last two people to arrive were Aurther and Molly, James’ grandparents. Molly walked in, smiling at everyone and started hugging just anyone she could get near. She overheard them greeting Neville and his wife. Molly said, “Hey there, congratulations dears.” Neville's wife said, “Oh thank you.” Aurther asked, “Who are your parents dear?” she replied, “Oh, I’m a muggle so you probably don’t know them.” Aurther had practically shrieked, “You're a muggle!” Molly shook her head at him before saying, “I’m sorry dear, he has a bit of an obsession with muggle objects.” Neville's wife had laughed and spent the rest of the night explaining to Aurther about muggle things. 

Molly came up and hugged James eventually, “Hello dear.” James replied, “Hey grandma.” Molly turned to Ally, “Are you one of James’ friends?” Ally replied, “Um, yeah. I’m Allison.” Molly smiled kindly at her. 

James had eventually gone off to talk to other people in his family and Ally found herself wandering around, absentmindedly munching on some pretzels that Neville’s wife had brought. She almost ran into Hermione. Hermione laughed, “Oh sorry dear, wasn’t looking where I was going.” Ally said, “It’s ok, I wasn’t either.” 

She kept wandering and came across Sirius in a quiet room, staring out a window. Ally walked in and asked, “All right?” Sirius looked up, “Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Ally asked, “What’s wrong?” Sirius sighed, “Rose and I got in another fight, I just feel like we aren’t as close any more.” Ally responded, “Oh, I’m sorry. But, hey people drift sometimes and, you can make new friends once you get to Hogwarts.” This was apparently the wrong thing to say because Sirius’ face became abruptly very stressed and Ally asked, “What’s wrong?” Sirius responded, “I’ll be in Slytherin, you just watch.” Ally smiled at him, “That’s what you're worried about? There’s nothing wrong with being in Slytherin.” Sirius was looking at her as though she was very dense indeed and said, “Everyone in my family hates Slytherin though! There’s only like two people here who weren’t in Gryffindor and it’s because one of them is a muggle and the other is Teddy who’s in Hufflepuff.” Ally said, “Well then, it’s about time someone was different then.” 

Sirius looked like he was about to protest when James walked in, “There y’are Ally.” Ally smiled at him, “Hey James, bit crowded out there.” James said, “Yeah a bit.” Right then, the Potter’s owl, CC, swooped in. 

Ally ran over to it and ripped off the letter, it was from Bailey and Conner. 

Ally and James,   
Hey, so our families are having a Christmas eve dinner together tomorrow and today Conner and I went on an icy bike ride. Other than that though it’s been sort of boring recently. Hope that you two are having fun!   
Bailey and Conner 

Ally smiled to herself before handing the letter to James who said, “What on earth is a bike ride?” Ally laughed, “It’s basically just a way of muggle transportation. There’s two wheels on the bottom and you pedal yourself forward.” James still looked highly confused so Ally said, “It’s hard to explain, I’ll find a picture to show you at some point.” James said, “Ok then.” 

Ally looked around the room, “Hey, where did Sirius go?” James said, “Huh, I dunno. Probably just went to get some food.” They went back to the party. 

At 9 pm Ally was sitting on her bed, reading Breaking Dawn, with Sirius fast asleep in the arm chair across from her, breathing softly. James had gotten into a heated discussion about Quidditch, the argument involved almost everyone there, George, Angelina, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Bill, Charlie, and obviously James, were all involved in it. Sirius and Ally had rolled their eyes at each other and found an empty room to sit in. 

James walked in the room saying at a normal volume, “Oh hey Ally.” Ally had quickly shushed him but it was too late. Sirius said, “Oh hey, must have fallen asleep.” James said, “Yeah Lils fell asleep too, we’re gonna leave soon so, let’s go.” 

Ally got up, stretching. James rolled her eyes at her and asked, “Party too much for you?” Ally snapped back, “Oh piss off Potter, I wasn’t about to stand in there listening to you lord over everyone else how much you know about Quidditch.” James laughed as Sirius sniggered. 

They walked out to find everyone hugging and saying goodbyes. Ally just tried her best to stay out of everyone’s way. Ally noticed that Rose and Sirius stood awkwardly facing each other. Rose said, “Bye Sirius.” Sirius just grunted in a way that was neither friendly nor unfriendly. 

Rose turned furious and whisper yelled, “Fine, if you’re going to be such a prat about it, then I won’t try to be nice to you either.” Before stomping off and out the door. Ally glanced at Sirius’ expression. He didn’t seem sad or mad, he just seemed like he was concentrating really hard on something. 

After they had all gotten in the car Harry asked, “Sirius, what was going on with you and Rose?” Sirius grumbled, “Nothing.” Ginny looked concerned, “What happened dear?” Sirius sighed, “It was nothing, she just, nothing. Nothing’s wrong.” Ginny looked even more concerned now but didn't push it. It was a quiet car ride home. 

When they got back to the house James whispered in Ally’s ear, “What on earth is going on with Sirius?” Ally shrugged back, she had no idea. 

. . . 

Ally woke up abruptly, sweating. She’d had the strangest dream, oh god, she remembered having this dream a couple of times before but, she could never quite latch onto what happened in it, she just wanted to get it out of her head. She looked at the clock, 1:30 am. She got up to go to the bathroom. She splashed water on her face a few times and, now she couldn’t even remember what the dream had been about, but she still had a weird feeling. 

She was walking back to Lily’s room when she heard someone crying in Sirius’ room. She knocked quietly on the door before opening it to find Sirius quietly sniffling lying down in his bed, clutching the blankets, his back facing her. 

She whisper yelled, “Sirius!” Sirius stopped crying immediately and as he sat up whipped at his eyes furiously. “All right?” Ally asked tentatively. Sirius nodded, looking down. Ally walked into his room, “What’s wrong?”. Sirius replied, “Nothing.” Ally asked, “Is this about Rose?” Sirius nodded. Ally asked, “What happened?” Sirius looked conflicted, as if he was weighing the positives and negatives of telling her. 

Eventually, he just shook his head at her. Ally sighed and said, “Well, if you ever want to tell me, then, you can.” she got up and walked back to her own room. As she lay down she thought about what Rose might have said to make Sirius stay up crying and felt a weird need to protect Sirius. She never wanted to see Sirius cry ever again. Eventually, she drifted back to sleep. 

. . . 

Christmas morning, she woke up to James slamming open the door and saying, “Happy Christmas! Hurry up, I wanna open presents.” then running down the stairs at full speed. Lily stirred a little and groaned, putting a pillow over her face. Ally rolled her eyes at James and started getting ready.

She made her way down stairs 15 minutes later to find Ginny and Harry sitting together at the breakfast table, sipping tea, James bouncing up and down anxiously in front of the fireplace, and Sirius sitting quietly on the couch, looking reserved. Lily was still getting ready upstairs. 

Harry looked up, hearing her approach and said, “Happy Christmas.” Ally smiled back, “Happy Christmas.” James said, “Finally.” Ally rolled her eyes at him. 

Lily walked in yawning, she was still in her pajamas and her hair was a disaster, so she must have just stayed in bed until now. James said, “Hey Lils, mum and dad can we pleeeeease open presents now?” Harry laughed while Ginny said, “Sure dear.” 

Ally handed over her own gift to James then, went to sit by the fire and watched chaos unfold. Smiling to herself, she opened her own present from Ms. Livings, which was a new book called, Wonder. Which was when James started walking over, carrying four presents. He gave them to Ally, “Here you go, these are all for you.” Ally panicked, “What!?” James looked confused, “Er yeah, what’s wrong?” Ally said, “I only got you one gift!” Harry laughed and said, “James only got you one gift too. The other three are from me and Ginny.” This only made Ally feel worse. She blushed deeply and said, “Thank you.” 

In addition to her four presents from the Potters and one present from Saint Pancs, Ally also had a present from Conner and Bailey. She had seven presents this year! She usually had one! In the end, she got the same box of chocolate frogs from James that he had gotten for Conner, she got the same makeup brushes from Bailey that she had gotten for Bailey, this made her laugh, she got a book series from Conner called Hunger Games, and it was obvious James had given his parents some advice on what to get her because she got a full set of makeup which she was extremely thankful for, a set of robes to wear, because she didn’t have any other than her school uniform, and a huge dark chocolate bar that had seasalt on it. 

All in all it was definitely her best Christmas. Even Sirius seemed to have gotten out of his mood while he was opening his presents. Later, Ginny had made them all hot chocolate and they were all very happy, sipping it and sitting around the dinner table. 

. . .

The rest of Christmas break passed in about the same fashion, and it was amazing. Ally one day, attempted to do her makeup, took one look in the mirror, then washed it all off and resolved to practice some more before wearing it. Sirius and Rose seemed to have come to an uncomfortable truce and were now being oddly polite with each other. 

On new years eve, they all went to another party, also at George, Angelina, and Fred’s house, and everyone who was there last time was there again, except for Luna, Abbey, Neville, and his wife. 

When they arrived, everyone greeted Ally by name and Ally was absolutely ecstatic at this for some reason that she couldn’t really explain to herself. Fred had even run up and hugged her and George had winked at Ally and said, “I think that Fred here has developed a bit of a crush.” Ally had blushed at this. 

It was now 11:30 and Ally felt herself getting a little sleepy, so she walked outside to try and wake herself up a bit. She sat in a grass patch in the front yard. James walked out and sat by her saying, “Hey.” Ally smiled at him, “Hey.” James smirked laying down, Ally did the same, they were now both looking up at the stars. 

They sat quietly for a moment and Ally whispered, “James, you asleep?” She tilted her head a little to see his face. He smiled but, kept his eyes shut, “Nah,” he responded, “Just thinking.” They let that sit in the air. And Ally continued to lay down, quite contently. 

They sat in silence for what could have been five minutes and what could’ve been an hour. Ally just kept staring at the stars, listening to James’ breathing. James said, “Ally.” Ally tilted her head to find James was now laying on his side, facing her. She responded, “Yeah?” James held up his watch, “It’s 2015.” Ally grinned, “Yeah, it is.” James laughed, his breath washed over her face. Ally tilted her head back to look at the stars again but James didn’t move. 

That was when Harry came walking out of the house squinting. He whisper yelled, “James, is that you?” James sat up, his usually perfect hair all rumpled, and called back, “Yeah!” Harry said, “Oh, ok. I think we’ll be leaving here soon if you want to come in and say goodbye.” Harry walked back inside and James jumped to his feet, holding out his arm to Ally, “Let’s go.” Ally took his arm.

**Author's Note:**

> It will be my goal to post daily at 4:30 pm!


End file.
